How to Use Tea Bags

A tea bag is a small little sack that is filled with tea leaves. The sack acts as a filter to allow the flavor out, but keep the leaves in. Tea is good for you because it contains much needed antioxidants. Some teas, such as green tea and black tea, contain more antioxidants than a serving of fruit or vegetables. Of course you can use tea bags to make tea, but tea bags also have many other uses.

Things You'll Need

• Tea bags Sugar Pot Pitchers White T-shirt

Instructions

1. Make a cup of tea. Take the tea bag of your choice and place it in a cup of hot water. You can either boil water on your stove or heat up an 8-oz. cup of water in your microwave for two minutes on high heat. Dip the tea bag up and down for several minutes to release all of the tea. Add sugar and creamer to taste and enjoy.

2. Make a batch of sweet tea. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil over a stove. Once it boils turn the heat off and add 12 tea bags. You can keep them together by tying the strings at the top. Let the tea bags sit for one hour. Squeeze the tea bags as you remove them and then add 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Stir with a spoon and then transfer in to pitcher. Chill in the refrigerator and then drink.

3. Place some tea bags in a cup of hot water for five minutes. Take them out and allow them to cool down a bit, just so that they won't scold your skin. Place the tea bags over your eyes in the morning and leave them there for 10 minutes or until they have cooled off all the way. This will reduce any swelling in your eyes or any puffiness that you may see when you wake up.

4. Boil a gallon of water and add six tea bags. Let them sit for one hour and then remove them. Take a white t-shirt and stick it in the pot of tea water. Let the shirt sit for two hours and then remove it. Rinse the shirt off and wring it dry. Hang it up and when you are done you will have a new colored t-shirt. This is a fun craft to do with children between the ages of 6 and 12. It is best if you wash the shirt separately in cold water at least four times after you dye it. This will make sure that none of the tea will bleed on to your other clothing.

5. Save your used tea bags and use them to make a compost. You can also open the tea bags up and spread the tea leaves around your outdoor plants. It is okay to leave the bag out there, but you will need to remove the string and paper tag.

Tips & Warnings

• You can keep your used tea bags in the refrigerator until you are ready to recycle and reuse them.

• Be careful to keep small children away from your pot of boiling tea water. It only takes two seconds for them to pull the pot down and suffer severe burns.

References

• Health Benefits of Tea
• Recycling Tea Bags